15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not come to us;

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

16 therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation

a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

‘He who believes will not be in haste.’

17 And I will make justice the line,

and righteousness the plummet;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

18 Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

you will be beaten down by it.

19 As often as it passes through it will take you;

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.